Il Grifone

Ours seem to like knocking rolling stock onto the floor...

Both models were stretched upwards to make space for the spring. However, unlike the N2, they are reversible.

Cats do that! Some of ours (especially Toby!) are given to disappearing for a while and then returning as if nothing has happened!

We've finally managed to catch and home Puppy Mummy. She's now called 'Briciola'. We've just come back from evening 'Walkies'. two dogs and two cats Lewis, Arran, Whiskers, and Geronimo. The dogs were ready immediately, but I had to call the cats who came running! ALL went well until we turned the corner and were met by a furiously barking Puppy Daddy* on the top of a high wall! The dogs ignored him completely, but the cats were unsure, so I decided to go another way. Trigger a tremendous barkfest as we met a white dog on his evening walk! Once the barking was over we reversed direction but the cats were still unsure about Puppy Daddy and so we reversed once more. The white dog had now gone so we were able to continue on our path without further problems apart from the dogs finding themselves a bone each. (Someone leaves these around for the local dogs. I wish they wouldn't!) Anyway we got back home and treats all round (these are expected!). Ziggy had pinched my chair, but has settled happily on my lap - usually Whiskers' place!

I've just noticed the instanter couplings are shown in a state of unstable equilibrium! I trust this will be corrected in the final models. Not that it really matters, as they require to be removed to not interfere with the working couplings. The buffers should be rusty too! Pedantic points, but I feel at 25 quid a shot.... I see the wheel back to back dimension appear to conform to NMRA standards. Does this mean a wheel flange thickness of 0.6mm?

A clapped out wagon has brand new wheelsets? Very unlikely I would think! Not that I should comment; £75 for 3 wagons is way out of Grifone price range.

That's only some of them! 🙂 In addition we have a new 'visitor'. A grey and white long haired cat has taken up residence in the cat kennel we keep on our front patio (the last inhabitant was Geronimo before his promotion to housecat). He shot out of the gate this morning, but quickly returned to scoff the food I put out for him* and a later refill disappeared too. *It looks like a 'he', but I haven't got close enough yet to confirm.

Panic this morning! The tribe set off for their morning walk - me, Lewis and Arran (the two dogs), Whiskers and Geronimo (the two cats) plus Dylan cat. Dylan took one look at the weather (promising rain) and went back inside! (He's not stupid.*) All went fine until we got to the top of the hill**. Everyone ignored Stella (neighbours' small dog) barking (yapping really - she's smaller than the cats!), but then the other neighbours' pack of three medium/large dogs*** arrived barking furiously (not aggressively though - their tails were wagging furiously) and our two had to join in of course. Poor Geronimo turned tail and ran. By the time I'd broken up the barkfest, he was nowhere to be seen. Whiskers had stopped before to investigate something interesting, so missed all the excitement. I got them all home and set out to look for Geronimo, but no trace. By now the rain had set in, so back home. A second expedition was equally fruitless. Later on I took advantage of another break in the rain and took Arran with me. There was no sign of him and we were returning home, when I heard a plaintiff mew behind us and there he was trotting along. I called him and he broke into a run to catch up. Treats all round when we got home! He's now on his chair in front of the stove. * Ex stray (most of our cats and the dogs are). He came with Whiskers, but unlike him (and Geronimo come to that), didn't wait to be invited in. I've never seen a kitten move so fast! Gate to indoors - pow! ** I thought to go looking for Toby who seems to have a second home and we suspect its one of these neighbours. (He has taken to staying away for several days at a time, but returns with a well-fed air.) Stella (his mum) has moved next door, but is still very friendly when she sees us, but Maurice (his dad) is staying and not going anywhere. *** One white and two black - not quite as large as our two, but big enough!

I intend to order some from Replica when I return to the UK (later in the month I hope). so should be able to confirm.

Geronimo has lately taken to coming on walks with me, the dogs and Whiskers. The other night I snuck out with just Whiskers and the dogs and came back to Geronimo glowering at me, "Why did you leave me behind?!" So I took him and of course Whiskers had to come too (less dogs). About ten metres on, I found Dylan had come as well, so I had three cats with me on a mini-walk!

Undoubtedly! My Teac surround amplifier is not up to much*. Is there a disc in the device? Try unplugging it and leave for awhile. They can get their knickers in a twist (any make!). or a loose disc can jam the works. * Lack of guts (5w/channel into 4 ohm IIRC) and always irritatingly resets to a no sound mode. Not having the remote doesn't help either.

According to one review, it doesn't do continuity. I'll stick with my €4 meters that do. (I bought another one as I can never find the things!)

I've just bought a faulty Marantz amplifier on eBay.it (Missed out on a NAD* grrrr!) Watch this space! I was going for a Sony, but realised it used STK output stage blocks in the nick of time - these were rubbish back in the mists of time when you could still get the originals. * It was a bit rusty (new phono sockets would not have been a big deal!), but was claimed to come on but not work. Possibly just because the jumpers were missing? Nah! Too easy!

Dublo and Wrenn screws were/are B.A. except for the large screw which is used to secure the bodies' which are Meccano thread B.S.W. (Actual Meccano screws in some cases - 4MT tank for instance. A Meccano nut can replace the small (and expensive!) nut used on the Duchess and A4.) It is possible that Wrenn switched to metric towards the end, but I do not see any advantage in so doing.

I think I'll get one of those when I'm next in Airstrip One the UK (January if all goes well). I ordered a cheap 'scope* kit from China before they decided to scrap the zero VAT import allowance. (It was noted that the UK copied this EU imposition despite Breks Brexit.) I have still to put it together (I don't think my eyesight will stand it anymore though - micro circuitry!) I initially kicked mysel for noticing after I'd placed the order that it was available already assembled for only a few pounds more, but soon realised that it wouldn't have been a few pounds more as over the limit and liable to VAT & import duty plus an exorbitant fee for the collection of same. * It's not a lot of help for model railways (unless one indulges in DCC (I don't - I have too many locos to even think of equiping them all) and probably not then, but it would be for my other hobby of Hi-Fi. It might have saved me from the disastrous failure of my Kenwood amplifier which killed a speaker - I never was too keen on direct coupled output stages!

I'd change the battery! 20 years is pushing your luck and burst batteries can/will leak corrosive crud all over everything! Our local Chinese emporium has digital meters at €4* including battery. They are good enough for model railway electrics and not the end of the world if you blow them up! I don't think they have audible continuity testing, but a low voltage buzzer will provide that function (or a lamp bulb will serve). * I have seen the same thing at €10 at their less honest competitors.

They soon learn that! We've let Geronimo out of his isolation cage after a few days to get accustomed to being indoors. He has settled in already. He insisted on going outside when we took the dogs and came back in when we got back.

Today ex-stray cat Whiskers had plonked himself in the middle of Lewis's bed and the two dogs were curled up sharing the other bed. He's just jumped up on my lap and started 'kneading'. He has sharp claws!

Nothing wrong with Celestion woofers!

Looks like he disapproves of the music! Or thinks you are using the wrong speaker cables (see 'Z Reviews hi-fi snake oil' thread).

Would a Märklin crossing be amenable to insulating the running rails for the two rail route? Most of my Märklin track is 3 rail, so I'm not qualified to speak about it. I do have an odd stud contact point with the operating direction indicator. The Italians call these 'marmotte' (marmots) as theirs (at least the earlier ones) bobbed up and down, but I don't know the German name. It is in the process of conversion to three rail and repair of the indicator which works, but waggles about.

The two rail track will automatically do this, which is why the running rails will probably needed to all be insulated from the rest of the system. Possibly irrelevant! Trix 3 rail locomotives return current on one side only. Early ones have very coarse wheels*, but the later 'scale' stock is compatible (if you ignore the 1/80 scale). * To work with Dublo they will require universal track and are also AC, but a bridge rectifier will sort that problem or you could use a Trix reverser (or just reduce the voltage to zero twice). Trix reversers require adjustment of the brushgear so that the loco stops with a track voltage of six. The reverser then operates when the voltage falls below four, following the sequence forward - neutral/uncouple* - reverse - neutral/uncouple - forward. * On the Pacifics. These and the 4-4-0s are passable models, whereas the 0-4-0s are firmly in the toy train category,

This morning, while I was having my morning livesaver coffee, Whiskers came to climb on my lap, but was very upset to find guest-cat Hilary already in residence. Luckily there was room for them both! P.S. He has just come back following our morning walk. The weather has turned chilly! (circa 10 degrees C)

I've just found this which I prepared some time ago (July!), but seem not to have posted.... Currently I'm in Airstrip One the UK and my Daughter rang this morning from Italy. Apparently Freya, our latest rescue kitten*, has been out on the town celebrating her first season, but shot inside as soon as the door was opened. Dylan and Whiskers (both rescues too) are showing great interest, despite both having been attended to (as above).... *She and Sofia, who we think is her mum, have been coming for food for some time and had decided to take up permanent residence in the shelter we threw together for them on the front terrace. Both objected stenuously when we grabbed them and brought them in, but soon decided that perhaps it wasn't such a bad idea after all. They soon got the idea of kitchen = food three times a day and present themselves along with the other cats, who have accepted them as family without any problems. (We are pretty sure Whiskers and Dylan ARE family!*) Litter trays and the food ritual were learnt at once - fill bowl with food / call cat's name / present cat with bowl! (It doesn't always work, but usually they start scoffing at once. Maurice and Whiskers are not above finishing off any off any (unlikely) leftovers. The dogs, Lewis and Arran, are not above this trick either. Whiskers arrived a while ago and took up residence on our front doorstep. Dylan (then a small kitten) appeared not long afterwards with him (we thought Whiskers was his mum at first), then disappeared again. A day or two later he was back and shot indoors as soon as we opened the door closely followed by Whiskers. We soon found out that Whiskers couldn't be his mum, but is possibly his dad! Whiskers has taken up the habit of coming on walks with us and Lewis. One morning he had an altercation with another cat and came and called back Lewis. "Allora?/You were saying?" The other cat suddenly remembered an important appointment elsewhere. (I doubt Lewis would have done anything, (too much effort!), but just the presence of 30kg of white Maremmano sheepdog was sufficient.) Since then Sofia has crossed the Rainbow Bridge due to a severe respiratory infection, probably resulting from her days on the streets, but all the others are fine. Whiskers is now my lapcat and insists on coming on walkies with the dogs or possibly with me as even if he misses the dogs he stiill expects his walk. The puppies' Mum (she has been seen to and no more puppies) and Dad now hang out nearby and, while the dogs would soon sort them out (they usually just ignore their barking!), I would rather avoid risking the cat.

The crossing will need a section of centre rail pickup and switching to connect the running rails together. It will probably need insulated joiners all round. My solution to this, back in the day, was to convert all the locomotives to 3 rail and run everything on Dublo 3 rail track. It might be possible to cut the base of a Dublo diamond to insulate the rails? The large chunk of plastic in the crossing might cause problems however. Or possibly some sort of wagon turntable affair? P.S. Problems may arise as Dublo 3 rail track is code 125 rather than the later standard of code 100.